UH Manoa Campus Events Calendar

2013 Loloma award recipients

November 15, 12:00pm - 1:15pm
Manoa Campus, Tokioka room Moore 319

Thanks to a generous donation, the Center for Pacific Islands Studies is able to provide two research travel awards a year to CPIS students. To be eligible for the award, a student must submit a proposal for research in the Pacific Islands that outlines how his or her project will contribute to an increased understanding of humanitarian issues and will benefit the host community or the Pacific region as a whole. During this lunchtime seminar, the 2013 Loloma awardees, Kenneth Gofigan Kuper and Lesley Iaukea, will discuss research they conducted with their awards.
“Culture and Identity Preserved: ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka halau hoʻokahi (All knowledge is not learned in just one school)”
Lesley Iaukea
Today, there is an ever-growing desire for cultural revival and strengthening native identity in Oceania. My research compares two native cultures—Kanaka Maoli and Tokelauan—which have been dispossessed in one way or another, and the tools they use for a thriving culture. In doing so, I critically analyze the parallels, similarities, and differences between the two groups of people and see what is actually working today in terms of perpetuating their culture.
Lesley Iaukea is from Maui, Hawai‘i, and earned a BA in geography from UH Mānoa. She has a diverse background including a career as a paramedic for the City and County of Honolulu. Lesley is especially concerned with sea-level rise and its effects on Island nations. For her graduate studies, she is interested in identifying tools that would help Oceanic people perpetuate their cultures.
“Ti Apmam, Para u Fanmakmata Todu I Hila' Ginen I Maigo'-ñiha: And Soon, Every Language Shall Awaken From Their Sleep”
Kenneth Gofigan Kuper
This presentation will delve into the possibilities of language revitalization through connections among Oceanic communities. A Chamoru man’s experience in the Māori language landscape will be presented with stories of hope, perseverance, and mutual appreciation. In addition, the role of language in creating or reawakening a political consciousness free of mental colonialism will be discussed.
Kenneth Gofigan Kuper is a Chamoru from the Mariana Island of Guåhan. He is currently an MA student in the Pacific Islands studies program and is researching Chamoru language revitalization and decolonization. He is the vice president of the Marianas Club at UH Mānoa and a founding member of the student activist organization Oceania Rising. He teaches a free Chamoru language class every Saturday titled "I Finakmatan I Hila'" or "The Awakening of the Tongue." Ken enjoys heavy metal music, learning languages, reading, and sleeping—definitely, sleeping.